November Field Trip: Red Mountain Park

November 5, 2016, 7:00 am–12:00 pm

Ruby-crowned Kinglet by Matt Hunter.
Red Mountain Park offers miles and miles of hiking and biking trails, featuring scenic vistas of the surrounding valley and downtown Birmingham. Amidst its forested slopes lie the historic ruins of Birmingham’s past, where mines offered up the ore that built Birmingham’s foundation as an iron and steelmaking town.

Although the mines and old buildings are now long dormant, the forested slopes of the mountain and the valley floor below offer a variety of habitats enticing to resident and migrant birds alike. Most Neotropical migrants will have moved out by early November, replaced by winter songbirds that will take their place for the next 5-6 months. Hermit thrushes, kinglets and a variety of sparrows and finches will be the focus of this half-day trip. Expect a lot of walking as we seek to visit several sites within the park to maximize our birding opportunities.